The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation

Introduction: The End of Business as Usual

Business as usual is no longer valid. For over a decade, digital disruption has impacted almost every industry. As a result, the traditional rules and assumptions of business are becoming less valid for sustainable success in the global business landscape. The time-tested rules that were developed to identify customers and engage with them, develop and market products and services, as well as manage an organization, its people and resources are no longer valid.

These rules have been upended by emerging technologies, and new business models that leverage technology to displace dominant business models. In any industry, a dominant business model emerges over time, the model that has the most efficient way to allocate and organize resources. New businesses tend to fail due to difficulty in competing with the scale and reach of these dominant business models. However, the emergence of digital technologies have upended this old business rule. New business models are able to leverage technology to create exponential scale and growth within a short time and far fewer resources, effectively displacing dominant business models.

A new business playbook has emerged, rendering the traditional rules and assumptions of business invalid. For example, the traditional rules of growth and scale are no longer valid. Incumbent organizations like Nike or Starbucks took about 24 years to achieve $1 billion dollar market valuation, while luxury brand Prada ...